Why we should care about threats to Azerbaijan: Opinion | World Israel News

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

51% : And in case the Azeris didn't understand the implications of this gesture, Iran let it be known that the second phase of the effort was code-named Operation "Fatehan-e Khaybar" or "Conquerors of Khaybar."
50% : But, thanks to the Israelis, the Azeris think that they are in a good position to stand up to Iran and remind Russia that their interference must be kept to a minimum.
50% : Still, the reason why things threatened to get out of hand in the first place was the perception of American weakness and the encouragement that perception gave to Iran and other Islamists. "
49% : To its south is Iran, a country that counts a third of its people as ethnic Azeris.
49% : So when Iran deployed a large portion of its army and conducted military exercises close to the Azeri border last month, the people of that much smaller country and its government, located in the ancient city of Baku, held their breath.
48% : By mobilizing its forces on the border and conducting exercises, Iran was telling the Azeris that their good relations with Israel and the United States are no defense against Iran's military might.
45% : So it was hardly surprising that in the aftermath of that disgraceful episode, Iran began flexing its muscles.
42% : By helping the Azeris hold their own against more powerful foes, Israel has given the Islamist regime in Tehran, which continues to dream of regional hegemony and of perpetrating nuclear genocide against the Jewish state, a reason for caution.
41% : Just as a huge chunk of Iran is populated by Azeris who are considered suspect by Tehran, a portion of Azerbaijan -- a region called Nagorno-Karabakh -- is heavily Armenian.
39% : That country's conflicts with its neighbors in Armenia and Iran, as well as with Russia, cannot be viewed in isolation.
38% : In this case, that means a common fear of Iran.
38% : For the Azeris, as with the Gulf state Arabs who have embraced Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, Israel is a vital ally against Iran and a useful source of military equipment and training.
37% : The connection with Azerbaijan also gives Israel some leverage in its always complicated relationship with Russia and even with Turkey, whose authoritarian Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is deeply hostile to Israel, yet regards Iran as a more potent threat to its security.
35% : In response, Iran sent its foreign minister to Moscow to confer with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss their mutual displeasure with the Azeris.
30% : And despite its posturing, Iran knows it can't afford to let animosity with Azerbaijan get out of hand since the rogue regime in Tehran is already up to its neck in risky terrorist conflicts elsewhere.
19% : More to the point, seemingly unrelated actions taken by other countries that do not, at least on the surface, have much to do with them, such as America's disastrous retreat from Afghanistan or the Biden administration's stubborn determination to revive former President Barack Obama's policies aimed at appeasing Iran, are actually having serious consequences on the ground that cannot be ignored.

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